Marujanma Kannada Movie
Think about any film that has been made with a story on reincarnation and you would think of the haunting music in those films. Kamal Amrohi's fifties classic 'Mahal', Bimal Roy directed 'Madhumathi', Subhash Ghai's 'Karz' starring Rishi Kapoor and Tina Munim, the Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini starrer 'Mehbooba' are some of the Bollywood films that are etched in our memory because of the mesmerizing music content. The Telugu film 'Mooga Manasulu' which was remade in Hindi as 'Milan' was an outstanding film made on reincarnation.
Even in the Kannada film industry, the late Shankar Nag's film Januma Janumadha Anubhanda and its music by maestro Ilayaraja's would still haunt you. You can add the recently released Shah Rukh Khan starrer Om Shanthi Om to this list. And above all, these films had experienced artists who gave competent performances to heighten the impact of the film.
Maru Janma is another film that based on the subject of reincarnation but the film turns out to be a weak presentation with many lose ends. Veteran actor and director A.R.Babu seems to be totally unfamiliar with handling such a sensitive subject and the film falls apart from the beginning.
The film does not have an iota of authenticity through out and the director has not tried anything to make it bearable. The pace is so slow that it tests the patience of the audience. Added to this boring narration even the music is so average that it fails to provide necessary relief. The so called comedy laced sequences also fall flat. Even the serious narration in the film appears to be comical in many sequences. Except for the strong visual content in Rajasthan, the film does not boast of any plus points.
The story revolves around Varun who often gets disturbed during his sleep and some mysterious things happening to him. Varun does not know why it is happening to him and his friends are also surprised. He finds a photo of a girl and instantly feels that he had known her before. And later it is revealed that in his previous birth Varun was working as a body guard to Maya, a princess. She falls for Varun, though the love is one sided. But the cunning minister who wants his son to get married to the King's daughter poisons the king's mind and Varun is buried alive by the King. Maya also dies after seeing this tragic incident. After four hundred years both Varun and Maya are reborn. Finally they are united in the same place where both of them had died.
Freshers Naga Kiran and Priyanka have failed to deliver goods and they look too ordinary on screen. Dimple is slightly better. And other veteran artists have also failed to make an impact. Kheni who made so much of news with his many legal victories in Supreme Court and his constant sniping with former Karnataka Chief Minister H.D.Kumara Swamy has done the role of the king. Though the costumes suit him, he has utterly failed to perform. His body language is atrocious.
Sree Murali's music is ordinary. Chandru has done well to capture the beauty of Rajasthan.
Maru Janma is a below average fare.
